


Lost and Found

by SassyLassy



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Humanstuck, Petstuck, dealing with abandonment, trolls as pets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-19 08:36:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2381906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyLassy/pseuds/SassyLassy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A car ride takes a sudden and dramatic turn and young Gamzee finds himself in a wide, scary world by himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A ride, a ride! You _loved_ rides! You loved sticking your head out of the window and feeling the wind blast away at your face. Oh how you grinned toothily and opened your mouth to let your tongue flap out against the wind, tail wagging wildly behind you… no doubt smacking Daddy in the face. You can hear his shifting, his grumbling.

Pulling yourself from one window you climb over his lap to stick your head out the other window; only this one isn’t nearly as open as the other one so you’re only able to stick your nose out of it to sniff at all the interesting smells. 

"Damn it, quit that," Daddy chides, his nice clean pants now probably ruined by your filthy feet. 

You tumble back from the window when the back of your loose fitting shirt is yanked and you yelp but it blows up into a giggle as you suddenly do a backwards flip right over Daddy’s lap and wind up landing on your belly. Getting to your feet you immediately head butt his thigh, your long, curvy, but rounded at the tip horns jabbing at him.

He shouts and swats at you again, oh boy! This game! You love this game! You honk at him and leap out of his grasp, narrowly missing his large hand. Again your tail is wagging and you run around in a circle since there’s nowhere to run in the miracle box that have the wheels that takes you places.

Thinking of, where were you going today? To the place with all the interesting smells with the cold metal floors to sit on? Or the open air place where there’s tall trees to butt your horns against, or the place with the food to eat and people who pet or take photos of you. 

'Oh they're so rare!'

'Look at its hair it's a mess!'

'He's so cute!'

So many nice words being said which only makes you grin wider, and honk proudly.

That’s when the miracle box with wheels comes to a stop, so suddenly that you almost go slipping off your seat entirely. You honk in surprise and you look up at Daddy, smiling brightly. Daddy is sitting there, rubbing his hands against his legs, staring ahead. He looked angry about something. That’s not nice.

The only way to fix a frown is by kisses so you leap upon him, pressing your lips to his face and kiss and lick and over all slobber all over him but he shouts, louder than before, and this time when he reaches to grab you he manages to grab a fist full of your shirt. You honk again, tail wagging still, but now Daddy has opened the door.

Suddenly the world is flying by you in ways you’re unfamiliar with. The wind and smells which had felt so great from the windows suddenly alarm you at how they speed past your nose and ears. The sky is beneath you, the ground above you, then they spin and change directions before everything is engulfed in cold wet darkness.

Somehow you fight your way to the surface of the cold water, wheezing, legs and arms kicking against the strength of the running river. You are _not_ a good swimmer, why would you be? You weren’t aquatic even if you were on the cusp of it, and had gill-like slits on your ribs they did nothing. Now you wish they did, when the water pulls you down again.

Spluttering and kicking and fighting the water you find yourself being tumbled over and over until one of your hands finally grabs something sturdy; a rock? Whatever it is you cling to it with all the strength you can and after what felt like an eternity you are pulling yourself from the water. It feels like the wind is rushing through you, that your bones are made of ice, and you can barely see due to your hair falling into your eyes.

A coughing fit grips you, shakes you for all you’re worth, and when you finally bring up the lung fulls of water that you’d swallowed in the river you collapse upon the rock. Trembling, every inch of you dripping freezing water, disorientated and sick, you lift your head to look around. 

Where was Daddy? Where was the miracle box?

Where were _you_?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What started as a day in which to better himself physically, Karkat comes across something that may help better himself emotionally.

Nature walks.

Karkat hated nature walks, and he had to wonder just why he was on such a miserable thing this early in the morning. Course, he knew the reason. His life was boring. Absolutely boring.

Working as an editor from home meant he could be in his pajamas all day while he worked at his computer. He woke up, got food in him, sat down and sometimes didn't get up again until past midnight that night.

Some may well call that the lifestyle perfect for them but for Karkat it had grown stale and when he'd realized he'd put on some weight. He'd always been slender, but now he had a visible stomach growing in and his thighs were getting thicker.

And not being able to fit into his favorite grey sweat pants was a crime. So the tanned, black haired man had signed up to any local outdoor work out programs he could get his name into.

So that was why he was out here, on a nature walk, at eight in the morning with a bunch of people who seemed as though they did this shit on a daily basis. Some of them were far too cheerful.

And a few had been daring enough to ask him 'so what are you?' as if his Hispanic heritage was impossible to see and secondly how fucking dare you ask a person a question like that in this day and age?

If his brother were here he would have screamed at them for their inappropriate questions until he was red in the face and gasping for breath.

And where the fuck were they now?

Oh yeah by the river. His headphones were feeling really sweaty on his ears right now, and already feeling gross enough about the sweat running down the small of his back (and down the crack of his ass seriously it felt like Niagara Falls) he pulled his headphones off.

The music had been blocking out the sounds of nature. Those birds, the tree leaves rustling, and the rushing water of the river he'd been walking along by.

What it had also been blocking out was a high pitched whining noise.

"What the fuck is that?" Karkat asked himself, since his 'nature walk buddies' had already continued on their quick paced merry way with their ear buds tightly docked into their ears. Like him, they hadn't heard it either.

It sounded like an animal. A small one, at that.

He didn't see it at first considering it was hardly moving but suddenly a clump of what he'd assumed to be simply rubbish or partly destroyed driftwood suddenly moved. A matted black head was lifted, revealing the curved horns and--

Oh _shit._

It was a troll.

Karkat had never owned a troll. They were expensive to own, to just buy out right. How many did some people shell out for a pedigree egg? Ten thousand? More? Who'd dump a pet that had cost thousands?

He gritted his teeth as he stood on the banks of the river, looking down at the small form who was trembling. It was dressed, telling him that it did belong to somebody... was a family camping out here? Had their pet wandered off?

Or was this a case of animal dumping?

He bit his bottom lip before finally stepping over and down, reaching out and quickly picked up the soaking wet thing. It gave a pitiful attempt at a noise, was it a whimper or a growl? Either way he now had a shivering creature right up against his chest.

Shit it was cold.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Karkat swore as he held the little creature in one arm and unzipped the top part of his hoodie and lowered the troll down the front. Some body heat was better than none, right?

While doing so he rubbed a hand against the neck of the animal, and finding a lack of a collar had him swearing again. Maybe it was micro-chipped? But if this was a case of animal dumping that chip would amount to nothing. Maybe a fine?

"Shit." he whispered, turning around and abandoned his nature hike and made his way back down to the camping grounds where he'd parked his car.

The troll only shivered more and squirmed closer, its clawed hands digging into Karkat's chest weakly. How long had it been out here, even?

Back at the camp there weren't any people parking, that much he knew. The cars parked here were all those who had come for the walk, there were no signs of camping vans, or people who may have lost a pet.

He just reached his car and was rooting around in his back pocket for his keys when the troll suddenly gripped him tighter than before.

"Whoa what--FUCK!"

It had thrown up. Right onto his shirt. He could feel the warm substance spread against his chest and he had the sudden desire to hurl everywhere himself but, somehow, fought through that want.

"Oh god oh fuck you are nasty you're horrible..."

_No wonder it was dumped._

Wait, no. He shouldn't think like that. Those kinds of thoughts were horrible especially when they were focused at what looked like a stupid little baby troll who'd been abandoned out in the wilderness.

Even if it was soaking wet and had now thrown up on him.

Getting it into the car was tricky, the troll saw the door opening and began to freak. It yelped and its claws dug against his skin through his shirt, and it struggled to wriggle free of his hoodie but it didn't have nearly enough strength to do the damage it wanted to.

Thankfully.

He wound up wrapping it tightly in the hoodie, since he didn't have a blanket in his car at all, and set it on the passenger seat as he began the engine.

"Okay ah, um. Hello?" Karkat didn't even know how smart troll pets could be. Did they understand language like dogs did, or like kids? No idea. No fucking idea and now he had a sick cold troll in his sick stained hoodie in his car.

"Right. Okay," considering he got no answer he continued to drive, "I don't know where a vet is at all so it's fine it's cool I'm gonna drive you home get you.. ah.. cleaned up then get you somewhere they can look after you. All right?"

The only answer he got was the most pitiful little whimper.

Fuck.

Did his heart just twitch a little? He prayed to God it wasn't, maybe he was feeling the warning signs of an oncoming heart attack? He'd rather that than anything else...

Like _feelings_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Karkat winds up taking Gamzee home to clean him up before beginning to attempt to get the troll off his hands at the vet.

Despite what a, what many would consider, angry personality Karkat Vantas had never properly road raged despite all his years of driving on an open road full of idiots. He kept to the speed limit, he obeyed the road rules, and even if some jerk off cut him off with their massive car which took up two lanes he never blew his gasket over it.

Today however he was in the middle of an emergency and it felt as though every idiot who had fished their driving license from the bottom of their cereal boxes were on the road.

He swerved, slammed his palm on the horn, and swore viciously under his breath as he drove around the idiots who were in his way.

"Oh come ON use your indicator or did it fall off when you drove out of fucking Hell today?" Karkat snarled viciously under his breath as the elderly driver in front of him was driving like it was Sunday and everyone had their thumbs up their asses instead of both hands on the wheel.

He cast an anxious glance towards the pet besides him on his passenger seat. It was curled in a tight ball beneath the stained hoodie, that long thin tail with the messy black tail fluff covering its face so all he could make out were those curvy horns.

Finally he made it to his apartment block, and once parking in his designated car spot he reached over to scoop the small troll into his arms.

He carried him up the stairs and once unlocking the door to his apartment he pushed on through, shutting the door behind him. "Right. Right. Shit, fuck what do... hang on..."

The troll was placed on the table where meals were normally eaten while Karkat ripped his puke stained shirt from his body and bundled it up under one arm as he picked up the troll again.

Not too long after all clothes, human and troll sized alike, were in the laundry and Karkat had the bath water running on warm. The little guy was still very cold to touch and he just kept shivering so the best course of action was to warm him up a bit.

Who knew how long he'd been in that river, freezing to death?

"Fuck," Karkat sighed as he pushed his fingers through the little creatures hair, pushing a bit of it away to peer at where horns met skin. He'd never seen a pet troll up close before, the 'fur' as it were was fairly thin around the head until it became more furry like the further down the body it traveled.

The paws were hand like, but covered in fur, and the palms and finger pads were pink and puffy like a cat. Or dog. When he squeezed the trolls palm, small claws slowly protruded from the finger tips.

Finally the bath was full enough.

"Okay try not to claw my face off. Or something. I need my face." Karkat said as he lifted the undressed troll into his hands before slowly lowering him into the tub.

Of course the animal reacted. His eyes opened and there was a mild look of panic, tiny claws extended from his paw tips and dug into Karkat's hand causing him to hiss loudly. Now both of them were hissing but at least one of them soon stopped the hissing upon realizing the water was warm, calm, and not the raging river he'd been thrown into.

"Great. Yeah. Thanks. Nothing like bleeding... fuck sake.. okay hang on..."

So he began to scoop water onto the trolls messy hair and back, and soon the water was a horrid shade of brown that made Karkat want to gag. Its time in the water had clearly not been kind.

But swiftly he pulled him from the water and wrapped him tightly in a thick fluffy towel, to which the troll began to softly purr as Karkat used another to rub the top of its head.

That purring, no matter how rattly and soft it sounded, was most probably the cutest sound Karkat Vantas had ever heard in his entire life. It made his heart give a tight clench, and he gritted his teeth as he reminded himself he was not about to get attached to a drowned rat he found.

Only once the troll was dry and settled did Karkat tend to the tiny scratches along his hand, frowning, since it looked as though whatever its name was had bitten at one of his fingers too since there was an obvious bite mark bruising his skin.

"Fuck now I'm going to be needing a tetanus shot. I was hoping to avoid a doctor this year you know?" he asked the troll who sleepily lifted its head to gaze at him from its place on the sofa. "Going to a vet is worse enough but a human doctor do you know what A grade assholes they are? No. No you would not and you're lucky in that respect."

The troll yawned loudly, before rolling onto his side and tugged the towel it was wrapped in closer around himself.

"Never thought I'd be jealous of a troll." Karkat mused as he finished bandaging his fingers before making his way over to the obviously incredibly cutely snoozing troll before reaching down and hoisted him off the couch.

"Honk!" he wheezed, obviously unimpressed by being moved but swiftly curled into Karkat's chest once he was held there. "Hnnnnnnk."

"Stop trying to be adorable." grumbled Karkat as he moved to his laptop and switched it on, having to type with one hand for the closest vet. He hoped it was a shelter too.

Turned out there was one just ten minutes from his place, but he'd do the right thing and call ahead first and make an appointment. He was just reaching for the phone when it suddenly rang, and seeing the name flashing on the screen he was already groaning.

The ringing phone had awoken the troll, whose ears twitched at the high, irritating noise.

"What is it Eridan?" Karkat asked bitterly after hitting the 'accept' button despite wanting to hit the 'ignore' one. Because if he ignored it, Eridan would call his mobile. Many times. Until he answered. So it was easier to get this shit over with.

"It's Soll," the nasally whine of Eridan's voice came over the phone line. "He-"  
"Look, Eridan, much as I'd LOVE to hear about what's wrong with your relationship I've got more important shit to deal with."

"What?" Eridan sounded as if Karkat had just spat in his coffee and called it cream. "What's going on? Why can't you talk to me?"

Of course, it was about what Eridan had to deal with not Karkat. He rolled his eyes.

"I found a troll."

"A troll??" oh shit, now he sounded interested. "What kind?"

"The wet kind. It was in the river up by the hike trails." Karkat reported as he shouldered the phone, looking down at the troll who was looking up at him curiously.

"Holy cow who throws out pets in this day and age? How big is it? Is it chipped? Is it grown up or--"

"Look like I said I'm KIND OF in the middle of trying to deal with it can I call you back I'll call you back good luck with Sollux later bye." and he hung up, slamming his phone into its holster, and tugged the pet closer to him and absently pushed his fingers through his black hair-fur. "God damn I hate that bastard. Ever since him 'n Sollux got together whenever there's relationship drama guess who he calls? Me."

Normally this sort of rant was aimed at nobody whatsoever. But now he actually had someone who was listening, and intently for that matter judging by how the troll was tilting his head curiously as he spoke.

"Fuck. Look at me already talking to you. Fine look I got to make this appointment, then get you down there, and we can continue on with our lives. Right?"

"Honk!"

"Right."


End file.
